


The Dying of the Light

by Sadbhyl



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Death from Old Age, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-30
Updated: 2007-09-30
Packaged: 2017-10-31 07:16:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/341365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sadbhyl/pseuds/Sadbhyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some farewells are harder than others</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dying of the Light

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published September 30, 2007
> 
> Little did I know at the time... Farewell, Sarah Jane. Thank you, Lis Sladen.
> 
> Choose your Doctor. Any will do. I wrote this with Ten in mind, but Eleven works, or Twelve, or...

The private ward was dark and quiet when he came in, the only sounds in the room the soft rhythmic beating of a heart monitor. One weak, uneven beat counting the lifespan of a human heart. His shoes made no noise on the floor as he followed the sound to the occupied bed.

She tossed restlessly, face scrunched in pain. “Nurse!” she called out in petulant, raspy voice.

“Will a doctor do?”

Confused, she opened her eyes and looked up. “Doctor!” Her whole body relaxed then, that brilliant smile he remembered through all those years making her familiar again despite the ravages of age.

He sat down on the bed beside her and took up her frail hand. “Hello, Sarah Jane.”

“Oh, Doctor, it is good to see you! After all this time, I hadn’t thought…”

“I know, I’m sorry. How are you feeling?”

“Old.” She smiled.

“You know, you say that every time and still you look just as beautiful as the day I met you.”

She laughed. “That day was very long ago.”

“Not that long, surely.”

“Doctor.” She glared at him impatiently with watery eyes. “I had my 119th birthday last month. And I suspect you had something to do with that.”

“You know the TARDIS has always had a soft spot for you,” he teased.

“Doctor.”

He capitulated. “Most likely it’s the remnants of the artron radiation you were exposed to while you were traveling with me.”

“It would certainly explain the slower rate of deterioration she’s experienced,” a new voice spoke behind them. “She’s had most scientists baffled for years.”

“Clean living,” she joked. “Doctor Jones, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. This is—”

“The Doctor,” Martha finished with a smile of her own. “Yes, we’ve met a time or two. Hullo, Doctor.”

“Martha.” He nodded his head to her but didn’t release Sarah’s hand. Martha was older now, too, in her late fifties, if he was to judge. Had it really been that long?

Sarah grew almost petulant. “You have? Why didn’t you say?”

“I did.” Martha shifted her stethoscope to her ears and checked Sarah’s chest, eyes constantly on the heart monitor. “You’ve just forgotten.” When she looked back at the Doctor, she shook her head sadly.

“Oh, bother,” Sarah grumbled, her eyes falling closed again. “I hate forgetting things. It’s like losing a piece of myself.”

Her breathing quieted, still shallow as she drifted off. “She won’t last long now,” Martha murmured quietly to not wake her. “I need to go let her family know.”

“Yes, alright.” He didn’t look up when she left.

Sarah’s eyes flickered open again. “Doctor?”

“Still here.”

“Thought I’d dreamed you for a moment.” She licked her lips, struggling with such a simple act. “Thank you.”

“You’ve thanked me already, Sarah.”

“No. Thank you for coming. For being here…now.” Each breath was a struggle for her. “I feel like I can move on, now that you’re here to see to things.”

“I’m here, Sarah Jane. Everything’s safe and well. Don’t let us keep you.”

There were footsteps behind them, and he looked over his shoulder to see a tall, lean young man with a baby in his arms, Martha close behind. “Gran?” he asked quietly, coming over to the bed.

Sarah didn’t open her eyes.

The Doctor rose and backed away from the quiet sorrow surrounding the bed. It was her time. She’d had a good life, and it was time to move on.

His Sarah Jane was gone.

~

“I get it now.”

He turned to find that Martha, done with her tasks as registrar of the deceased, had followed him out onto the verandah. “Get what?” He went back to studying the stars, plotting each one he had traveled to with Sarah Jane.

“We thought you didn’t care.” She approached him slowly. “That maybe you just couldn’t love us. But we didn’t, couldn’t comprehend.” Her dark eyes never wavered, thoughtful and compassionate. “What you felt, it was just beyond our comprehension, wasn’t it? So we tried to stuff you into a little box, make you smaller so we could understand you, and then got hurt or angry when you didn’t fit.” She stopped. “I’m sorry, Doctor.”

“Oh, Martha.” He dragged her into his arms, her body familiar and comforting. Like Sarah’s in her own way. Like each of them.

“Don’t come for me.”

Her quiet command surprised him. “What?”

Pulling back, she looked up into his eyes. “When it’s my turn, don’t come for me. I don’t want my last act in this world to be to cause you so much pain.”

“You already have.” He smiled, weak and wavery. “Just by knowing you, I’ve felt it. Known that one day I’d lose you, too, and I wouldn’t be able to stop it.”

“Doctor—”

“It was worth it,” he insisted, giving her a small shake for emphasis. “I am proud to have known you, Martha Jones. Proud to have been part of your life, and grateful to have had you a part of mine. You and Sarah and Jack and Donna and Rose and all the others, all of you. You’re all worth all of it.”

This time she was the one to hug him.

“Thank you for taking care of her,” he said, pressing his cheek against her temple.

“You only had to ask. She was an amazing woman.”

“She was.” They all were amazing.

Finally Martha stepped back. “So. I suppose you have someone waiting for you back at the TARDIS?”

“Yes, actually.” He dropped his head sheepishly, studying the pavement, his hands automatically finding his pockets. “He’ll be wondering…”

“He, is it?” she said when he didn’t finish the sentence. “So your branching out now, are you?”

“I’ve traveled with males before. This one’s a Gameliorite. He has this amazing ability. He can—”

Martha laughed, holding up a hand to stop him. “Stop talking about him like he’s a pet, Doctor! Bring him to tea next week and then I can find out all about him personally.”

“Oh.” He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly uncertain. “I’m not sure—”

“You have to.” She was implacable. “It was her last request when she was lucid.”

“What was?”

“She wants to go with you one last time.”

That surprised him. But Sarah Jane was good at that. “She does?”

Martha nodded. “Anywhere but Aberdeen, she said. Did you really just leave her on a street corner in Scotland?”

“Well, it wasn’t my fault!” he protested. “I expect it was the TARDIS.”

“Yes, of course. The TARDIS.”

He glanced over to see her swallowing a knowing grin and couldn’t help one of his own. “Well, alright, maybe it was a little on purpose. I had to leave her. She wouldn’t have been safe on Gallifrey.” Resting his elbows on the rail, he folded his hands, looking again at the stars as he confessed. “But she could have threatened to hide in the TARDIS or something. That was more her style.”

Martha came over and leaned on the railing next to him. “Tell me about her.”

“You sure?”

“This is her wake, Doctor. The only one you are going to get, most likely. So you’re going to tell me all about her, and then you’re going to go off on your next adventure.” Her expression grew stern. “But you’re going to set the TARDIS to be back here for tea next Saturday, and you’re going to bring your new friend and we’ll sit and talk so he knows he’s not alone, no matter where you leave him off. And then you’re going to go off again, taking the remains of Sarah Jane Smith with you to scatter among the stars, just like she wants. Or you’ll answer to me, yeah?”

He shook his head. “Sometimes you sound just like her. She never let me get away with anything, either.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Good.”

“Thank you.”

She looked puzzled. “For what?”

“For coming with me.”

“Shouldn’t that be my line?”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not mine as well. I…I never told her.”

Reaching out, Martha squeezed his arm in comfort. “Tell me about her,” she repeated.

Martha was always good at getting a story out of him. “She snuck aboard the TARDIS that first time, did she tell you?” When she shook her head, he went on. “She lied about her credentials and then when I caught her out, she hid in the TARDIS when I wasn’t looking. I always admired that about her…”


End file.
